When I was a kid, I LOVED back to school time. I loved shopping for new school supplies (Lisa Frank notebooks and Bic pens were my thing!) and was always so excited for the first day of school. I try to bring some of that same excitement into my music therapy sessions on the [...]
I recently had to move all my instruments and materials from the therapy center where I’ve worked for three years and move it back home. The therapy center was closing its doors and my materials needed a new home. This move allowed me to take inventory of everything I own and reminded me of a [...]
The ink has barely dried on my Beach Themed blog posts and already I'm realizing people are posting first day of school pics of their kids. That can only mean one thing - it's back to school time! Looks like it's time to shift gears. I'm excited, though, because at the end of August I'll be [...]
I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to put my summer session plans away just yet! I love using my uke and singing about relaxing days at the beach. There are so many creative ways to design sensory, cognitive, and movement activities around a beach theme (click here to check out some of those [...]
Friendship Circle is one of my favorite programs to work with. It is an incredible organization that provides services for children and teens with autism, as well as the opportunity for them to make friends and work on social skills in a supportive environment. I work with Friendship Circle by providing group music therapy services for [...]
Today is the final post for my video series on Music Therapy + Cognition. I've had so much fun putting these videos together! You can catch up on the past posts and videos here: Part 1: Using the clarinet to work on localization Part 2: Using rhythm instruments to work on auditory perception skills Today [...]
There are a ton of lesson and session planning resources out there for teachers and therapists who work with children. Just scroll through Pinterest and you'll see the ideas out there are endless! One of the best resources I've found for creating visuals for my academic activities is a site called FileFolderFun.com. This site has free [...]
Winter in Miami is palm trees, 75 degree weather and tank tops. It's pretty blissful. But I have to admit I get a little envious when I see people on Facebook posting their pictures of the snow falling at night lit up by the street lights or kids playing outside in the snow. Because we don't [...]
I'll admit firsthand that I've been a little hesitant to incorporate improvisation into my sessions. I never knew quite where to start or how to musically support my clients. Also, my clients (who are mostly on the autism spectrum) need a lot of structure, so I didn't know how they would handle the "musical freedom," [...]
Happy Holiday season! I'm so happy to be writing this post with the lights from our Christmas tree twinkling next to me. While brainstorming new ideas for my sessions with young children, I came up with this simple little song about Santa. It's an echo song and the melody is repetitive, so kids will be [...]
